iVillage: The Busy Woman’s Guide to a Better Body

You’re so busy that lunch often means a trip to the vending machine, and exercise amounts to the number of trips you make to the ladies’ room in a single day.

When work and family demand so much of your waking hours, it’s easy to adopt lifestyle habits that come back to bite you in the butt, hips and thighs. “For starters, rethinking where, when and how you exercise is key,” says Cleveland Clinic wellness expert Amy Jamieson-Petonic, MEd, RD, CSSD, LD. “You also need to take a look at your diet. Chances are you’re shortchanging yourself when it comes to feeding your body optimum fuel and overdoing it on empty calories that are keeping you from your goal of looking fitter.” Read on for tips on how to transform your body into one that looks, feels and functions at its best.

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When work and family demand so much of your waking hours, it’s easy to adopt lifestyle habits that come back to bite you in the butt, hips and thighs. “For starters, rethinking where, when and how you exercise is key,” says Cleveland Clinic wellness expert Amy Jamieson-Petonic, MEd, RD, CSSD, LD. “You also need to take a look at your diet. Chances are you’re shortchanging yourself when it comes to feeding your body optimum fuel and overdoing it on empty calories that are keeping you from your goal of looking fitter.” Read on for tips on how to transform your body into one that looks, feels and functions at its best.

“When I’m having that mental debate about exercise, I like to tell myself that I can do anything for 10 minutes,” says Heather Nettle, MA, coordinator of exercise physiology at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation. (This mental pep talk is especially helpful when you’re fighting the urge to roll over and go back to bed.)

The fix: Three times per day, whether you’re in an office or at home, look for opportunities to exercise for 10 minutes, says Nettle. “When it comes to heart health and calorie burning, 10 minutes of exercise three times per day has almost identical value as 30 minutes of continuous exercise,” she says. Two of our favorites: Arrive 10 minutes early to pick up your child from sports practice so you can do a few loops around the field. Commit the first 10 minutes of your lunch break each day to a quick jaunt around the grounds or neighborhood. (On rainy days, look for indoor stairs that you can go up and down.)

So when your body is saying no, tell yourself that you’re going to give that workout video, morning run or after-dinner walk 10 minutes. “Chances are that you’ll feel so good after 10 minutes that you’ll find the energy for 10 or even 20 more minutes,” Nettle says.

When exercise opportunities present themselves (which they will more often now that you know to look for them), you need to be prepared. “Keep a fitness pack in your car or desk drawer with a pair of athletic socks and shoes, an iPod and water,” Nettle says. If the kids unexpectedly decide to go to a friend’s house, or a late meeting gets canceled and you can make an impromptu trip to the gym on the way home, you’re ready. “The idea is that if you have to go home to change, you’ll find 400 other things that require your attention,” she says.

If you’re not getting at least 7 1/2 hours of sleep per night, then you might be chronically sleep deprived, which makes it that much harder to toss those covers aside and get moving first thing. Often, women are so eager to cross one more item off their to-do list that we wind up regularly sacrificing zzz’s. But consider this: Studies show that people who get enough quality sleep are less likely to become obese. Meanwhile, being chronically sleep deprived can lead to weight gain, along with high blood pressure and heart disease. “The satiety centers in the brain of sleep, sex, food and thirst are closely related,” explains Michael F. Roizen, MD, chief wellness officer of Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute. “When not enough of one (sleep, for example) is obtained, you crave another — sugared food, for instance.” For tips on how to avoid tossing and turning half the night worrying about the unfinished tasks, check out 360-5’s Better Sleep.

Kids are calorie-burning opportunities waiting to happen! And when it comes to your partner, finding some type of physical activity you really enjoy doing together (outside the bedroom) is a win-win for the both of you. “Children love challenges and moving their bodies,” says Katherine Mone, MEd, RD, LD, a registered dietitian for Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, “so set up a circuit around your family room, basement or backyard with jump ropes, exercise bands, hula hoops, exercise balls, soccer balls and small cones. Blast the music, set a timer and run some drills, such as jogging in place for 30 seconds, doing 15 push-ups or a hula hoop contest. Use athletic tape to outline rows for relay races where you carry an egg on a spoon, do the wheelbarrow or dribble a ball.”

Take the same think-outside-the-gym approach with your partner: Shoot a few hoops of basketball, head to the park with your tennis racquets, go for a bike ride, hit some golf balls. It’s a foolproof plan for covering all your bases — family time, fun and exercise.

“I strongly discourage doing cardio and strength training at the same time,” says Nettle. When you’re moving your legs, your main focus is on balance. “What happens is that the lifting becomes mindless, which puts you at risk of injury,” she says. The most effective way to strength train is by doing slow, focused repetitions on solid ground. Stashing a set of hand weights near your desk isn’t a bad idea, “but just don’t try to read e-mail and do biceps curls at the same time,” Nettle says.

Strength training need not require a set of weights: “I do dips at my desk all the time,” Nettle says. With your back to your desk, grab hold with both hands, straighten your arms, then walk your legs out at a 45-degree angle, tighten your core and slowly lean back while bending your elbows and keeping them in alignment. Do as many as you like.

Nettle also loves the plank pose for core and overall strengthening: Starting on your hands and knees, place your forearms and palms on the floor with your elbows directly underneath your shoulders. Walk your feet back until your legs are straight and your ankles, knees, hips and shoulders are in one even plane. Draw your navel up and reach your chest forward and heels back to engage your abs and keep your spine long. Work up to holding for 60 seconds; aim for three one-minute plank poses a day.

When it comes to weight loss and water intake, “most of us do not consume enough water throughout the day,” says Jamieson-Petonic. The smallest amount of dehydration (as little as 2 percent) can affect cognitive function, as well as overall physical performance. “Often you also wind up confusing hunger with thirst,” she says. “Regularly reaching for a snack instead of H2O can lead to weight gain over time.” The next time you think you’re hungry, try drinking some water first.

What about the recommendation to down eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day? This really isn’t used anymore because we can hydrate through other sources, including low-fat or nonfat milk, coffee and tea, as well as fruits and vegetables, which have a high water content, says Jamieson-Petonic.

Chugging a Red Bull, Monster or Fear will definitely send you soaring. But these so-called energy drinks come loaded with sugar and caffeine. One 8.3-ounce Red Bull has 26 grams of sugar (that’s more than 6 teaspoons!) Meanwhile, a sports drink like Gatorade is no better, with 32 grams of sugar in a single bottle. Once the sugar-and-caffeine buzz wears off, your energy level can come crashing down. Do your body a favor and sip on some belly-fat-busting, antioxidant-rich green tea instead.

“One of the causes of weight gain is not being aware of what you’re eating or how much,” says Jane Ehrman, MEd, CHES, a mind-body medicine specialist at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. “So many of us are so busy, we’re not eating mindfully. Before each meal, try taking two to three deep breaths to bring your focus into the present,” she advises. This will allow your brain and body to register that it’s being fed. “Whenever you can, take 20 to 40 minutes for a meal, or at the very least, sit somewhere where you’re not distracted by a television, e-mails, etc.,” Ehrman says.